NFL Draft: Oregon State and Oregon produce a record 13 draft picks

AP PhotoTampa Bay's selection of wide receiver Sammie Stroughter in the seventh round gave Oregon State a school record seventh draft pick in 2009.

Oregon State and Oregon proved bountiful for the NFL draft as the state's two Division I-A football programs combined to have 13 players drafted, the most ever from the schools.

A school-record seven players were selected from Oregon State during the two-day draft, which began Saturday in New York. Oregon tied its record with six players taken.

OSU's record-setting selection occurred in the seventh round of the 32-team draft when Tampa Bay plucked wide receiver Sammie Stroughter with the 233rd overall pick. The previous school record of six occurred in 1967 when the 26-team league held a 17-round draft.

The selection of Oregon defensive end Nick Reed, taken 247th by Seattle, set the combined record, previously 10 in 1972 when Oregon produced six draft picks and OSU four. Oregon had six players drafted in 2002.

The news of the Beavers' accomplishment added to the excitement for OSU linebacker Victor Butler, who was taken in the fourth round on Sunday by the Dallas Cowboys with the 110th overall pick.

"I knew it would happen," he said. "When you play with these guys and practice with these guys day in and day out and you see the amount of talent they have, you think teams would be stupid to pass on them."

The first Beaver off the board was offensive lineman Andy Levitre, taken Saturday in the second round by Buffalo with the 51st overall pick.

Levitre said the record-setting weekend shows how far the program has come this decade.

"I think the coaches have done a great job over the years getting players ready," he said. "Just making them better people as well as better players."

Three of Oregon's prospects came from the 2004 recruiting class, which at the time was considered the school's best ever. From that class, center Max Unger went to Seattle in the second round, safety Patrick Chung was taken by New England in the second round and Pittsburgh selected defensive tackle Ra'shon Harris in the sixth round.

"It speaks volumes for that class as a whole," Unger said. "We came in and set the bar a little higher around here. It's cool to have that many guys get a shot at the NFL."

The Beavers had several surprises on Sunday. The biggest were the selections of linebacker Slade Norris and safety Al Afalava, both projected to be undrafted free agents by many experts.

Norris said he woke up Sunday fully expecting to go undrafted. That changed when Oakland coach Tom Cable called Norris' family home in Camas, Wash., during the fourth round.

"Coming into this, I was thinking seventh round, possibly sixth round ... fourth round? That was like a dream," Norris said. "I never imagined I would get picked up this early."

Chicago selected Afalava in the sixth round.

Levitre goes to a team that is in need off help along the offensive line.

"I think it's a good situation for me to go out there and come out and compete for a spot," he said. "I'm excited. I can't wait to get out there."

Levitre said he visited Buffalo, Denver, San Diego, Pittsburgh and New Orleans prior to the draft. The Bills visit stood out.

When Buffalo selected center Eric Wood out of Louisville in the first round, however, Levitre believed the Bills would not take an offensive lineman in the second round. He was glad he was wrong.

"They were one of the teams that I really wanted to go to," he said. "I had a great visit out here and got along with the coaches real well."

Butler, like Norris, is making the transition from defensive end to linebacker because of a lack of size. But a strong performance at the NFL scouting combine led to Butler being suggested as a late-round pick.

Ross William Hamilton/The OregonianVictor Butler, shown here accepting a Sun Bowl MVP trophy, didn't expect to go as early as he did in the NFL Draft.

Butler planned to start his Sunday with a quick workout, figuring he had time to kill before his name would be called. Butler was running late when he walked past the television and saw that Dallas was on the clock in the fourth round.

The Cowboys were not a team that had expressed much interest in Butler, but he paused to watch anyway.

With 27 seconds left on the timer for Dallas, Butler's cell phone rang. On the other line was Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who needed no introduction.

"You watch 'SportsCenter' enough all these years and all the Dallas stories they do and you know Jerry Jones' voice," Butler said. "There's no getting around it. I knew it wasn't a hoax."

With that, Butler was off to Dallas and a record day for the Beavers was in full swing.